


Sanctuary Feigned

by GlassShardsAndKerosene



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-13 23:45:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7990675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassShardsAndKerosene/pseuds/GlassShardsAndKerosene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fallout 4 fan-fiction with an original character. Depicts the same story of a father in search of his son after the event of nuclear fallout </p><p>"I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center." -Seamus Heaney</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sanctuary Feigned

"Fucking piece of shit" I cursed under my breath as I threw down the tool I once held in my hand. I glanced at a matte obsidian colored motorcycle leaned on the kickstand in front of me. I swore this was beyond me, I didn't want to take her into a mechanic because I was more than sure they would charge me up the ass for just about anything they deemed fit to fool me into paying for. The Red Rocket truck stop was fair in dealings but I knew my bikes, but the last road trip I took must have shifted something loose from the foreign rattling that became apparent the last few miles I rode her. Since the noise, my motorcycle hadn't been shifting right so I wouldn't dare take my wife on the back anytime soon. Not that she was ever all that into motorbikes. She always told me I'd fall on the pavement and she'd be the one scraping me off it someday. I understood that a sport like this made her weary but she did after all; marry a man of the military. Old habits die hard and so did my upbeat hobbies. She did however stick around long enough, and I was lucky enough to have a son. "Shaun.." I whispered to myself. It made my heart bubble with a warmth that I knew everything was okay in the world, so long as I had my family. I glanced back at my bike and thought, fuck it. I decided to save the headache for another day, tomorrow evening perhaps. I stood up and walked into the house from the garage door.

"Honey make sure there's no grease on my doorknobs!" my wife added as I walked into the room. I chuckled a little and dismissed her call. I hadn't gotten into working on the motorcycle enough to be covered in oil in grease today. nonetheless I headed to the bathroom and rinsed off in the sink. I looked in the mirror to make sure there wasn't anything on my face, meanwhile my mind had started to wander. I thought of the past and the wars that had lead our society to where it was today. How the nation started using atomic energy as an almost limitless power source and provided things that could be sought out in the realm of science fiction. We eventually ran into shortages of every major resource, the entire world unraveled and peace became a distant memory. It is now the year 2077, we stand on the brink of total war.. and I am afraid, for myself, for my wife, for my infant son. Because if my time in the army taught me one thing, its that war.. war never changes.

"You're gonna knock'em dead at the veteran's hall tonight, hon." my beautiful wife's voice unclouded my mind as she walked into the bathroom behind me.

"You think?" I asked,

"Absolutely, now get ready and stop hogging the mirror." she replied happily. I Smiled in return of her always so apparently joyfulness. To be married to a guy like me, and she never thought to leave me. She was beyond my league. I took a long stare into the mirror to check my hair and any other mishaps that might make themselves known at the veteran's hall but I looked decent. meanwhile my wife was leaning in fixing her long cocoa colored hair to make herself look even more flawless. She had touched up her maroon lipstick and smiled at me, I smiled back and we walked into the living room. awaiting me was Codsworth. our family Mr.Handy. we picked him up for less than top dollar because of my service in the military. being an official had its perks at times. Codsworth was a three armed robot with 3 fixed camera lenses that came off his center body. he was programmed to be a house bot, and take care of the menial tasks so that my wife could have much less on her list of things to do. She ended up taking care of Shaun everyday anyways, running to to grocery store often, and keeping in touch with what was going on in the newspapers.

 

[](http://s350.photobucket.com/user/GlassShardsAndKerosene/media/1510860_100884273624627_7761589153409892613_n_zpsw5qysqgj.jpg.html)

 

"Ah, good morning sir, your coffee 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Brewed to perfection!" Codsworth outstretched one of his arms presenting a freshly brewed cup of coffee sitting on the counter for me. I fucking loved that Robot. "And today's newspaper, just delivered" Codsworth added. could he get any better? I took a seat on the couch with my coffee and I heard the sound of Shaun reporting on some unpleasantness from down the hallway. "Ah, sounds like someone made a stinky! I shall attend to young Shaun." Codsworth spoke as he passed my side and continued after the crying of my baby son. I reassured my wife that Codsworth was a great investment and smirked. She was happy about him too, she loved when Codsworth would happily joke about my wife not being allowed to touch the laundry because he always insisted on doing it for her. I could hear someone stepping up to our front door and sighed. It must be that salesman again.. I got up before my wife could insist I answer the door and long behold,

"Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!" he seemed pretty hospitable but I would have rather spent my morning relaxing than dealing with more paperwork or sales pitches. I decided to stand in the doorway for a second or two unresponsive, because why not. I didn't take my eyes off of the man. after a few moments he looked very confused. "Hello? are you still there?" he asked.

"Goo Awaayyy" I responded halfway jokingly in a sarcastic tone. The Vault-Tec rep. looked astonished but then recaptured his posture and without so much an a return of banter he went on and on about how he had been trying to get in touch with me for days. "I'm here now" I responded to his anxious words. Vault-Tec was a company that no one really took seriously. they had planned to make vaults in case of nuclear fallout. they claimed they had vaults in every city but only the select few could be invited into them in case of some sort of doomsday. I suspected he was here for just that. he went on and on about time being a precious commodity and he sputtered out some information that was useful.

"Because of your family service to our country you have been pre selected for entrance into our local vault, Vault 111" The Vault-Tec rep finished. He must have meant the one that they had been building behind my house and up the hillside that overlooked the next city over called Concord. I figured what the hell, why not if we are all supposed to die anyways. nuclear fallout was possible but it wasn't likely to happen just yet. I agreed to fill out the paperwork the representative held in his hands and bid him farewell.

"Its peace of mind. That's worth a bit of paperwork right?" my wife added after I shut the door.

"For you and Shaun, no price is too high" I responded before I could sit back down Codsworth buzzed into the living room to let me know that Shaun needed some parental affection. My wife and I followed the bot into my son's room and he lay in his crib, halloween decorations hung on the walls of his room and autumn was right around the corner. I rotated the carousel spaceships that were hanging from the top of Shaun's crib and my wife smiled approvingly.

"Halloween is coming up, have any ideas of things we could do as a family?" My wife asked. I was about to answer her when Codsworth's voice ran from the living room

"SIR, MUM you should come and see this!" He yelled.

"Codsworth whats wrong?" my wife responded while she ran into the front room with Shaun in her arms. I followed behind her and Codsworth was between the front window, and the television. The normal view of clear skies and calm winds was at a now a very different state. my wife gasped.

"Confirmed reports, I repeat confirmed reports of nuclear detonation in New York and Pennsylvania" The network on the television set rang in my ears as the now very apparent gusts of wind and the debris filled skies stormed in. we didn't have much time.

"My god." my wife said shocked. in that moment my instincts kicked in, I looked my wife in the eyes and in a request of her to trust me,

"We need to get to the Vault now!" a moment after I said it she was right behind me and we exited our home into a now very chaotic world. There were people, neighbors, friends running about in the discord. people all running for their lives toward the local vaults or elsewhere. pushing and shoving ensued as we all clumsily run up the hillside behind my family house. There were military units deployed on the streets and they were refusing people access to certain areas. How could they? I lead my wife up the hilltop as we ran past such sights, an older elderly man; blind as a bat panicking and not knowing where to go, blind or not that was just about everyone at this point. there were abandoned suitcases and backpacks left by people who were struggling up the hill in too much of a hurry. as we climbed to the fence line dividing us from the zone of the vault there were guards asking for confirmation. only the pre-selected were welcome into the vault. that was us at least, my wife, son and I. I told them who we were and they did a head count and the bulky guard let us pass. we ran up the hillside and saw an almost helicopter pad shaped platform with Vault-Tec designed logos on the base. "Here, everything will be okay stay with me" I told my wife. she tried to focus her gaze through all the fear around us. "How is Shaun?" I asked her. she looked at me and held our son close to her.

"He's okay. We are going to be okay" She tried not to cry. I grabbed them both and held them close to me, I hoped they couldn't sense my lack of sureness and fear. Then it happened.. In front of the Vault platform a nuclear detonation in the distance, everyone gasped in fear and everything turned bright white and faded into a black sun that hung over a blood colored sky filled with fire. The sudden warmth of the destruction hit with a humid wave and the massive tremor following the explosion hammered into the ground as if bloomed outward in a ring of decayed earth, while without me noticing the platform was moving underground.

"I love you" I told my wife, and she held onto me as the world on fire vanished into the darkness of the underground, our new home.


	2. The Undying Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of the In-Game Tutorial

The platform finally reached its destination into the earth's crust and made its final lock down. a gateway connecting to the platform opened upward as we were welcomed by Vault-Tec employees. Thank god they knew the detonation would happen.. thank god they actually committed to building these vaults.

"Where are we?" My wife asked one of the employees. The thin looking employee looked less than devastated, instead in a cheerful tone she responded

"You are safe, and you are home." Her smile was false but everyone was buying it. Maybe she was just trying too hard. Was it a coping mechanism? "If you follow the guide you will receive your own Vault-Tec jumpsuit and we will settle you all in" as she spoke another Vault-Tec employee was behind us adding something to almost every statement she said.

"We have very comfortable accommodations here" The opposite employee said with the same joyful tone in his voice as the first woman. I looked to my wife to check on her, she wasn't paying attention to me, instead she was vastly distracted by following the guide down the vault.

"Honey" I called lightly to get her attention. She was still very entranced. I walked through some people who weren't moving as fast and caught up with her. upon reaching her I put my hand around onto her opposite shoulder. "Are you doing okay?" I asked her. She looked up to me and through her worried expression she summoned a smile. I guess the Vault-Tec employees were there trying to help with coping mechanisms after all.

"Shaun's okay" My wife said lovingly while gently rocking him back and fourth in her arms.

"Sir, Ma'am, if you two walk this way you will receive your own Vault-Tec jumpsuits." a more scientist looking employee stood before us, both hands holding plastic bags with Jumpsuits inside. I withdrew them from his grasp and gently handed one to my wife. giving her another reassuring look as I did. She slipped into it as I did mine when we got the chance and followed what seemed to be a leader or president type of the Vault employees. he kept going on and on about how great the Vault was and how we were the future of the new world. I be honest I didn't really give a damn unless it was something that made my wife happy. I always felt like I lost part of myself in the war behind me. my living was dedicated to my wife and my son after that. The Vault-Tec employees and the president type guy lead the chosen of Sanctuary Hills into a room with several metal pods with windows.

"If you all would choose a decontamination pod to step into we can continue the process of welcoming you into Vault 111" The President exclaimed.

"I'll take Shaun" my wife insisted. I nodded and found myself a pod across from hers and before we knew it everyone else had already been buckled into their own pods beside us. "We just need a moment" my wife insisted to the president. He looked over and nodded in acceptance. She turned back to me and we exchanged I love yous. I reassured her that everything would be okay. 

"I love you so much honey" My wife told me as Shaun and her were helped bucked into the decontamination pod across from me. The door of mine was closing while I looked upon my two loves. In the back of my mind I wanted to tell myself that everything was going to be okay, and that Shaun would be okay growing up in a Vault, and my wife would be satisfied with living this way. before I could continue the pod started to get cold. frost covered the screen of the pod and the details of my wife became covered in ice. what the fuck. 

"Shit" I managed to say under my breath. It wasn't a decontamination pod it was a fucking cryo-pod. they were freezing us solid to wait out the end. I couldn't make sense of it but I remembered my wife needed me and if there was anythi- my senses grew cold and my mind went silent. I don't remember what else happened aside from my last sight of my family. I heard nothing for what seemed like only a moment but in a cryo-pod a moment could have been forever. a few of my senses came back and I heard footsteps coming our way. I willed my frozen eyes to try to capture a gaze, the appearance of a man in a black leather jacket stood before me along with his sidekick in a hazmat suit who in which carried herself in a feminine manner. They were standing in front of my wife's cryo-pod and I heard one of them shouting to open it. As it opened in my view my wife started to ask questions as to where she was and what was going on. The man in the leather jacket signaled for his hazmat partner to reach into the pod for something. 

"No I've got him" My wife said as she pulled Shaun close to her. They were trying to take my son away. I tried to move more as I watched the scene intensify. My wife was winning despite her strength not being reliable from being frozen prior to this moment, the hazmat woman seemed to be struggling more than necessary and that's when I saw it, a flick of steel in right hand of the man. It was a fucking gun. I tried for the life of me to say something, to do literally anything to help save my wife and Shaun. It was however, too late. The man raised the handgun to my wife's chest and shot her dead. If I were even to slip a single tear it would have been caught frozen anyways. I tried to cry out in sorrow white-washed into hate. They took Shaun into their possession and I managed to move enough to bang on the window of the Cryo-pod, the man with the leather jacket heard the rattle and turned to me to laugh. 

"C'mon lets go" he stated as he followed the woman out of the Vault. before I could try to get out of my metal prison the ice set in again and I couldn't move. everything stood still for a moment longer and the next sound I heard was an alarm of sorts ringing in my ears and this time the cryo-tube thawed much more quickly.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon" I shouted as the door of my pod slowly opened. I finally broke free of the grasp it had on me and ran across the room to my wife. "Honey!" I cried to no avail, there was no response and I cried for her. I pulled her into my arms and fell to my knees with her laying into me. Who could do this? I swear I will kill them. I held her and lost track of a few moments again and submitted myself to the deepest sorrow I have ever felt. my heart almost cracking in my chest. "I will get our son back, I swear it" I told her. Her Jumpsuit still stained the same color of her lipstick. I gently set her down and I used all the strength left in me to stand on my feet. I was feeling the fuel of revenge start to find its way through my veins. I looked around for a moment to see the rest of the citizens that came into the vault had somehow died in their Cryo-Pods, I shook the feeling off and found my way out of the room, I followed any hallway or doorway I could manage to find a way through. Was this massacre Vault-Tec? I thought they were here to save us? 

"I can't remember what way was out, It was only a moment ago. Through the Vault I passed figures and skeletons, bodies of people who starved and as I grew closer to what seemed to be the exit the bodies were armed. I picked up a pistol as the awareness of an immediate danger grew stronger. As I turned past what the signs stated was the last corner to the exit I found the room we had first entered the vault in. I stopped in my tracks, there was a threat.. There were several giant Cockroaches the size of a small dog that were picking off of the floors and the skeletons in the Vault. They must have been radiated and found their way into the Vault, they ate everyone who wasn't safe inside a Cryo-Pod. every single body up until now was wiped completely clean of recognition that it ever stood as a human before. I backed away slowly, but one of them had either smelled or heard me moving around, it didn't hesitate and began crawling toward me faster than I could aim my new-found weapon. I went to shoot but nothing fired. "Fucking safety switch" I cursed and reset the gun, by the time I had the chance to shoot all four RadRoaches were closing in on me. I readied my gun and shot 7 times. The Roaches clicked and squealed as they died on the floor and I kicked on aside in protest of their screeches. Turning my attention from the beasts I went straight for the main computer to open the Vault door. It was completely locked. "Fuck it I'm about to die in here" I felt defeated as a wave of questioning and hopelessness fell over me. "Its me and those Rad Roaches. Am I a lucky guy or what?" I said aloud in absolute frustration. I glanced around and saw the corpse of the President of the Vault; only recognizable by the lab coat he wore. There was something on his arm, a bluky computer looking thing. I walked over to him and took it off his left arm and tried sizing it onto mine. I pulled the latch down to secure it onto my forearm and returned to the computer by the Vault door. There was a connecting cord that looked like it fit into the main computer console. I tested it and it proved compatible, the computer on my arm lit up immediately and the words "Pip-Boy" ran across the screen. It proceeded to open a menu asking if I wanted to open the Vault door. "You are a genius" I chuckled while I glanced toward the president's corpse. I withdrew the cord of the pip-boy back into itself and pressed the very clear open vault button and as I did the Vault made a large snapping noise as the long barred locks finally uncompressed themselves. The Vault door rotated to the right and revealed the platform I once rode down to get here. I took a deep breath and walked over the scaffolding walkways and onto the platform. There was an elevator button beside me and I sighed upon pressing it. The platform began to shift upwards as the world underground slowly pinched out of sight. My wife, still laying there on the floor. I replayed the scene of the two unknown people taking Shaun, and I looked to my wedding ring on my left hand, the only piece of my love still with me aside from my son. I looked up to see the top of the Vault slowly opening to accompany the platform rising. The Sunlight outside filled into the elevator and the pain I felt intensified as the realization that alone survived. I swore to myself upon seeing the sunlight again that I would live this life, but I would find Shaun. I will rescue my son.


End file.
